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Dear Sprite, How can I blame you for admiring wonderful ideals such as that every Cuban irrespective of gender or skin color would be considered equal, have access to education and health services and have their basic needs met? I don’t, the ideals are marvelous it’s the methodology that’s flawed. I have agreed with you on many of your postings and disagreed on others, but always with great respect of a person I only know in this virtual world of the WLCR Forum.
When I was very young, I would send my letters inside the envelopes where my parents were also sending letters to relatives in Cuba and my letters would sometimes be missing by the time they reached my family’s hands. I couldn’t understand then that an innocent wish expressed to be able to meet my cousins or visit them was a HUGE no no and considered against the revolutionary ideals of that country??? So I grew up being more careful in my expressions and also not getting to bond with my family. I don’t discount the experiences you have had in Cuba and I would hope you would also consider the other experiences, though different from your own, which also tell of the Cuban story.
I am also fully aware, as most thinking individuals would agree, that the Embargo has served to make the situation in Cuba even more unbearable. That said, involuntary manslaughter is still a crime the last time I checked in most countries, the intention may not have been to hurt someone, but the outcome of involuntary manslaughter is still death and destruction all the same. I’m certain of Fidel’s brilliance, but I do not know Castro’s heart, I can only judge based on the results of his actions. Like I said, sometimes people, governments and even whole countries get lost along the way and it’s honest to goodness real people that pay the price which is why I hope and pray for change on that island…and a change that is determined by the Cubans living inside the island because they have earned that right by having to withstand such incredible conditions and oppressions for almost 50 yrs now…
I consider myself Latina with family members from and spread throughout Spain, France, Cuba, Venezuela, US and Costa Rica (which is one of the tender spots in my heart), but in the end I’m really a citizen of this world and in my own small and humble way responsible for and to ALL life within in it, including Gaia itself–so when I proclaim that freedom is what I hope for in whatever country I live in, it’s because that is also my hope for the rest of humanity…Pura Vida Sprite!
UpeCity, I think you’re wonderful!! I don’t usually put bumper stickers on my car, but I saw one today that I love and will be putting that on my car ASAP–a bow that says “Support Peace”.
Thomas Jefferson admired those that could say the most profound things with just a few words. I have great difficulty with that (if you haven’t notices :)), but sometimes only a few well chosen words will do…Pura Vida! (another short message has such profound connotations)…
Now Aaronbz, don’t you know that when it’s convenient for Castro everyone from a Shih Tzu to Amnesty International are covert CIA agents and can’t be allowed to enter the island because they are “dangerous”? I actually agree with Fidel (like I said, the man’s a genius), shining the light of truth on “situations” will always be dangerous to those that speak of great philosophies while silencing and oppressing their people.
So if Ron Paul really means business about returning the freedoms Americans have lost under the Patriot Act (and other nasty tidbits of legislation) without replacing that by oppressing others, then he may just be what the US needs…Still want to check into this guy some more…
Ahh…the power of green…money that is–not turtles nor vegetation! Ever hear how the telephone pole just came at the drunken driver and hit his car? I guess that real estate agent has a similar story! The best turtle watching I’ve ever done has been in Playa Langosta, it was an adventure to get there, but now a hotel replaced the turtle watching. Then we moved to Playa Grande and that also seems to be really struggling if not already effectively dead (even if some turtles still nest there–it may not be enough). That’s why I’m so glad when people actually take notice and do something about it. It’s great to dream about a better world, but it takes action to make it happen…I know the C21 bunch from Corporate and I’ll make sure to pass this little anecdote along…Thanks Perrogrande and Simondg…Pura Vida
Sprite, Sorry it took me so long to respond. I was at Columbia University all day and just walked in. Anyway, I consider you and many on this Forum to possess above average intelligence. Most people that know me, including my Ivy league professors & colleagues don’t consider me stupid either which is why I had to smile when I read your post about how freedom of speech had to always be tempered. Are you joshing me? But of course! What intelligent human being doesn’t understand that in spite of having freedom of speech in (let’s say the US for argument sake and it’s a reference point for many on the Forum including you and me) the US as granted by The Bill of Rights and Constitution (well, before the Patriot Act) no one thinks that you should be able to blurt anything you damn well please to anyone others and just in case someone is too blunt to get that, there are laws against defamation, slander and falsely yelling out “fire” or some other words that could put the public at large in danger. So now that we agree on that please consider that you were NOT an island Cuban when you lived on the island, you were a foreigner and speaking of intelligence, Fidel is one of the most brilliant men I’ve ever tried to understand and he has been masterful at the art and science of marketing his revolution by taking people in and “showing” them what he would have you see. Again, I do not deny there have been great gains on the island, but that the people of Cuba CANNOT FREELY EXPRESS themselves is an UNDERSTATEMENT. They also lack many other liberties–some of the religious oppression has diminished in the last decade because, oh heck, tourists like to celebrate Christmas you know! Convenient bit of change, but I’ll take it because it means the people on the island have gained some inkling of personal freedom, even if for other reasons. Religious behavior was considered counterrevolutionary and my poor grandmother had to pray to her Virgencita del Carmen and Santa Barbara in a closet because when her great grandchildren saw her and innocently mentioned it to a school teacher, sure enough my 4’11 grandmother was treated like an enemy of the state–she was questioned, chastised and warned to stop such “dangerous” behavior all for wanting to practice her religious faith!
But don’t take my word there’s always the good old BBC, some information on the human rights activists, librarians and journalist that have been jailed in Cuba and last but not least there is a video of Fidel Castro’s greatest protege showing us what he’s learned from the master regarding freedom of speech and how reporters should be treated. Hasta luego viejo (since you’ve lived in Cuba you know that this is a Cuban term of endearment):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2007/05/070502_pressfreedom.shtml
03 May, 2007 – Published 09:18 GMT
Cuba shamed on press freedom
An international group campaigning for press freedom has put Cuba among the top ten countries where it says restrictions on newspapers and journalists have worsened in the last five years.According to the report, Cuba became one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists in the past five years with 29 journalists being imprisoned in 2003 alone in a massive crackdown.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also singled out Cuba as the fifth worst overall in their list of places worldwide where press freedom has deteriorated.
Limited coverage
In addition to the imprisonments in Cuba, the report claims four foreign journalists were expelled after covering a 2005 political opposition meeting, with a further 10 being barred entry when Fidel Castro became ill in 2006.
The report reflects a mixture of relatively open countries that have turned increasingly repressive and traditionally restrictive nations where press conditions, remarkably, have worsened.
Why Cuba?
According to the CPJ, Cuba is an example of the latter and has been included high in the list because it has ratcheted up press restrictions through widespread imprisonments, expulsions, and harassment over the last 5 years.
“The behaviour of all of these countries is deeply troubling, but the rapid retreats in nations where the media have thrived demonstrate just how easily the fundamental right to press freedom can be taken away,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.
Three nations in sub-Saharan Africa were also among the countries highlighted as having deteriorating conditions for free-press.
Sub-Saharan democracies suffering
Ethiopia, Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have won praise at times for their transition to democracy.
However the CPJ report claims that but they are actually now moving in reverse on press issues.
“Democracy’s foothold in Africa is shallow when it comes to press freedom,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.
CPJ staff excluded from consideration zones such as Iraq and Somalia, which lack conventional governance and newsgathering.
The CPJ’s top ten offenders:
1. Ethiopia
2. Gambia
3. Russia
4. Democratric Republic of Congo
5. Cuba
6. Pakistan
7. Egypt
8. Azerbaijan
9. Morocco
10. Thailandhttp://www.cubaverdad.net/freedom_of_speech.htm#Journalists
1. Cuba, the world’s biggest prison for journalists
Pages on independent journalists in Cuba“Gagging Law”
Promulgated in February 1999, the “88 Law” – soon nicknamed the “gagging law” in dissident circles – weighs like the Sword of Damocles over any person who “collaborates, by any means whatsoever, with radio or television programmes, magazines or any other foreign media” or “provides information” considered likely to serve US policy. The law provides for very heavy sentences: up to 20 years’ imprisonment, confiscation of all personal belongings and fines up to 100,000 pesos (close to 4,800 dollars, while the average Cuban salary is 250 pesos or 12 dollars per month). This law, that no court has taken advantage of as yet, also provides for punishment for “the promotion, organisation or encouragement of, or the participation in meetings or demonstrations.
Gagging Law text (Spanish)
In Cuba, they don’t just censor you now – they throw you in jail.
President Fidel Castro’s police rounded up 26 independent journalists on 18 March, along with more than 50 political dissidents, all for the same reason. At the beginning of April, Cuban courts dispatched each of these journalists to prison for between 14 and 27 years after three days of sham trials. They were punished for allegedly working with the United States “against the independence and territorial integrity of the state,” which is a crime under article 91 of the Cuban criminal code and under article 88 on “protecting national independence” (known as the “gag law”).
Those targeted had regularly published articles in the foreign press, mostly American, since no independent or privately-owned newspaper or radio or TV station is allowed in Cuba, and had recently dared to start up two underground publications in Cuba itself – “De Cuba” and “Luz Cubana” – which was unprecedented in the 44 years of President Castro’s rule.
This new persecution of political opponents and independent journalists, as well as the execution on 11 April of three would-be refugees who hijacked a ferry in a bid to reach Florida, has revolted democrats around the world, even leading the European Union to reconsider its future economic cooperation with Cuba.
Reporters Without Borders invites the public to sign a petition calling for the immediate release of the 26 journalists, who have been thrown in jail to stop them speaking out freely.
The arrests mean Cuba is now the world’s biggest prison for journalists and that President Castro has become the “Maximum Leader” of predators of press freedom.
More news on the journalists amongst the 75.
On March 18 2003 Castro moved against dissidents in Cuba while the world watched the invasion in Iraq. The Cuban regime arrested 75 dissidents and used the repressive laws it has in place to condemn them to long prison sentences.
Note that the news items listed are based on a search of the Cubaverdad Blog and are therefore not complete. For more information please search the Internet.
List of 75 human rights activists imprisoned in March 2003
Name Sentence to Released Recent
Nelson Aguiar Ramírez 13 years News
Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés 18 years 30/11/2004 News
Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos 25 years News
Pedro Argüelles Morán 20 years News
Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona 26 years News
Mijail Bárzaga Lugo 15 years News
Margarito Broche Espinosa 25 years 29/11/2004 News
Marcelo Cano Rodriguéz 18 years News
Roberto de Miranda 20 years 23/06/2004 News
Carmelo Díaz Fernández 15 years 18/06/2004 News
Eduardo Díaz Fleitas 21 years News
Antonio Díaz Sánchez 20 years News
Alfredo Domínguez Batista 14 years News
Oscar Espinosa Chepe 20 years 29/11/2004 News
Alfredo Felipe Fuentes 26 years News
Efrén Fernandéz Fernandéz 12 years News
Adolfo Fernández Saínz 15 years News
José Daniel Ferrer García 25 years News
Luis Enrique Ferrer García 28 years News
Orlando Fundora Alvarez 18 years 18/06/2004 News
Próspero Gaínza Agüero 25 years News
Miguel Galván Gutiérrez 26 years News
Julio César Gálvez Rodríguez 15 years News
Edel José García Díaz 15 years 06/12/2004 News
José Luis García Paneque 24 years News
Ricardo González Alfonso 20 years News
Diosdado González Marrero 20 years News
Léster González Pentón 20 years News
Alejandro González Raga 14 years News
Jorge Luis González Tanquero 20 years News
Leonel Grave de Peralta 20 years News
Iván Hernández Carrillo 25 years News
Normando Hernández González 25 years News
Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta 20 years News
Regis Iglesias Ramírez 18 years News
José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernandez 16 years News
Reinaldo Labrada Pena 6 years News
Librado Linares García 20 years News
Marcelo López Banobre 15 years 29/11/2004 News
José Miguel Martínez Hernández 13 years News
Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez 20 years News
Mario Enrique Mayo Hernández 20 years News
Luis Milán Fernández 13 years News
Nelson Molinet Espino 20 years News
Angel Moya Acosta 20 years News
Jesús Mustafá Felipe 25 years News
Felix Navarro Rodríguez 25 years News
Jorge Oliveira Castillo 18 years 02/12/2004 News
Pablo Pacheco Avila 20 years News
Héctor Palacios Ruíz 25 years News
Arturo Pérez de Alejo Rodríguez 20 years News
Omar Pernet Hernández 25 years News
Horacio Pina Borrego 20 years News
Fabio Prieto Llorente 20 years News
Alfredo Pulido López 14 years News
José Gabriel Ramón Castillo 20 years News
Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique 18 years News
Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodríguez 25 years News
Raúl Rivero Castaneda 20 years 30/11/2004 News
Alexis Rodríguez Fernández 15 years News
Omar Rodríguez Saludes 27 years News
Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello 20 years 22/07/2004 News
Omar Ruiz Hernández 18 years News
Claro Sanchéz Altarriba 18 years News
Ariel Sigler Amaya 20 years News
Guido Sigler Amaya 20 years News
Ricardo Enrique Silva Gual 10 years News
Fidel Suárez Cruz 20 years News
Manuel Ubals González 20 years News
Julio Antonio Valdés Guevara 20 years 15/04/2004 News
Miguel Valdés Tamayo 15 years 09/06/2004 News
Héctor Raúl Valle Hernández 12 years News
Manuel Vázquez Portal 18 years 23/06/2004 News
Antonio Augusto Villareal Acosta 15 years News
Orlando Zapata Tamayo 18 years NewsReporters Without Borders on Cuba
This man:
INTERNATIONAL PEN WRITERS IN PRISON COMMITTEE
Article 91/Law 88
The legal instruments most often utilized by the Cuban authorities to silence journalists and writers on the island are Article 91 of the Penal Code used in conjunction with Law 88 (see explanations of both below).
The measures are wide-ranging and ominously vague, and serve as catch-all legislation designed to cover almost any form of deviance from the official government line.The following summary of Article 91 and Law 88 is taken from the Amnesty International website:
Article 91 of the Penal Code
Article 91 of the Penal Code, which was the sole charge for 26 of the 75 dissidents and was used in conjunction with Law 88 (see below) for another six, provides for sentences of ten to 20 years or death against anyone convicted of “acts against the independence or territorial integrity of the state”(73). Under this article, “he who, in the interest of a foreign state, commits an act with the objective of damaging the independence or territorial integrity of the Cuban state, incurs the penalty of ten to twenty years imprisonment or death”(74).Law 88 of 1999, which modifies the Penal Code, changes the provisions regarding sentencing to provide for life imprisonment.
Law 88
In February 1999 Cuba’s National Assembly passed tough legislation (Law 88), called the Ley de Protección de la Independencia Nacional y la Economía de Cuba, Law for the Protection of the National Independence and Economy of Cuba. The law calls for seven to 15 years’ imprisonment for passing information to the United States that could be used to bolster anti-Cuban measures such as the US economic blockade. This would rise to 20 years if the information is acquired surreptitiously. The legislation also bans the ownership, distribution or reproduction of ‘subversive materials’ from the US government, and proposes terms of imprisonment of up to five years for collaborating with radio and TV stations and publications deemed to be assisting US policy.Every single one of the writers, journalists and librarians sentenced in April 2003 were found guilty on charges relating to Article 91, Law 88 or both.
The full Spanish text of Law 88 can be viewed at: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2003/cubacrackdown/law88_spa.html
List of journalists in prison: Cubanet.org
Also see the CPJ site: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2003/cubacrackdown/introduction.html
Source:
Cuba: Systematic Repression of Dissent
December 1998 (addressing country conditions through November 1997)
by Douglas Payne
http://www.worldpolicy.org/globalrights/carib/1997-cuba.html#penalCuba’s penal code:
http://www.ruleoflawandcuba.fsu.edu/law-penal-code.cfm
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ_V4G8qRAU
This is so you can see how well Castro’s protege and great admirer Chavez has learned from the master about how you treat the press. The video is in Spanish, in the blue banner is where the attack took place and which agency the reporter worked for–
I know Sprite, I love that about CR too! If any allergy should arise, taking good care of yourself and your health (I’m sure you know the drill good food, sleep well and exercise) should help you get over it within the year. In the meantime, there are a lot of allopathic and naturapathic options offered even by the medical doctors of CR. Pura Vida!
No problem, let me know how you make out. The selling of turtle eggs was a lot more prevalent before which means that they have been able to attain some compliance, but still so much needs to be done if CR is to continue to be the home and nesting site of all of the marine turtles that are being pressured thru pollution, poaching and a myriad of other issues…Again, thank you for taking the initiative…Pura Vida!
Human resiliency is wonderful and human pain and suffering are always much more transparent and intrinsically more important than rhetoric or political philosophies…..Just because Batista’s gov’t was bad, just because the US can’t stop meddling with others, just because X, Y or Z, doesn’t make what is happening in Cuba anything other than HORRIBLE and something that NO ONE should have to face for the sake of pompous ideology….which happens to be one of the reasons I do love about much of what the Founding Fathers had to say when constructing the US–Unfortunately, not only people get lost along the way, so do governments and whole nations….I don’t pretend on convincing you Sprite, you are immensely lucky to the have right to express your differing opinions from mine (ONE YOU WOULD NOT HAVE IN CUBA!)–as it should be–but I will never excuse the oppression of any people for the sake of hollow political differences–those are MERE WORDS, the pain, imprisonment and oppression of a people are done to REAL PEOPLE and obtained gained with their REAL BLOOD—not some pie in the sky ideology and not even for the “greatest” of thoughts according to some since a government should always be a representative of its people not its jailer…..Thank your lucky stars you and I can express our opinions freely….Freedom is one of those things that should never be bought or sold and the freedom of a nation should never be at the whim of someone’s “great idea” no matter how great you might consider those ideas to be…
You say “Cuba is doing OK. They will get through another bad period.”???? Goes to show you haven’t been there in a while! No matter how many slogans plastered on every public surface of that island stating the contrary–Cubans are living under horrible conditions (you don’t have to buy a book to read propaganda in Cuba–it gets plastered over every billboard and building wall available). If Cuba gets thru this god awful “special” period it’s because Cubans are some of the toughest most hardworking people I know and under the current regime they have also had the privilege to become very educated. They “resuelven” (figure a way to get what they need) from the moment they open their eyes every morning for the simplest of things to the moment they lay their heads on their pillows at night. And I have family in very high places within the Cuban government who actually have gov’t cars and chofers! No one on the island nor any Cuban that really loves their country wants Cuba to become a satellite state like PR, they just want to be free. Cubans on the island today turn the volume down when the politicians come on because they’re sick and tired of having to be someone’s political experiment–that’s not respect, that’s disgust! They love their country, they’re proud of their achievements, but they ALSO want to be FREE. Fancy that, what you want for yourself, what Ron Paul wants by promising to restore the Constitution of the US, hmmmm…..What Cubans live thru on the island are not minor inconveniences, they live with major restrictions of their “inalienable rights” along with major everyday inconveniences to have toilet paper, sanitary napkins, oil for cooking, meat for eating, dairy (unless you’re under 7 or a senior citizen) and the list goes on–ALL considered great LUXURIES in Cuba. At least be coherent when touting the value of freedom in one country and then considering them dispensable in another….
The higher the biodiversity anywhere, the more fragile the dynamic balance while each organism is busy relating and adapting to the others so that not one is terribly more powerful than the others. Interesting concept we humans could learn from. E.O. Wilson which is quoted in this article has actually spent much time in Costa Rica and is a must read if you want to know about CR ecology and ecological relationships. His concept of biophilia (“idea that humans have an innate kinship with other living things”) is an important human ecological theory, but this is not an immediate process. This also means that when a NEW organism (such as an expat), arrives in CR (a totally new ecosystem foreign to their evolutionary trajectory) his or her body will need time to adapt, adjust and enter the balance of this new ecosystem. This may mean that your body may react with allergies for a bit because it is in fact facing unknown agents for the first time and is part of the adjustment process (including many items others have mentioned before me–like changing sleeping & eating habits), but the magnificent weather, beautiful scenery and friendly environment will only aid the process along as there is a tremendous health value in also just being happy and being surrounded by nature, no matter where you happen to live.
You might also be surprised to know that in spite of CR and most tropical area’s high indices of biodiversity regarding most life zones/biotopes, wetlands/swamps areas and the like have much higher indices of biodiversity in northern climates than they do in tropical ones (read Dr. Crow’s comparison research in CR, Amazon Basin areas and northern climate wetlands–you can find his books at InBio). I was part of the CR university students that helped him with his research and we were all quite stunned at the findings–The world is full of wonderful relationships and surprises…As far as nature goes, the adage is adjust/adapt or die–I’m glad we humans have great abilities to adjust and benefit in the long run 🙂 Pura Vida…
Perrogrande, Who you call is MINAE (see contact info below), you tell them the beach and what you have observed. If you have the ability to document the times you see people raiding the nests the better. In CR some local populations are given the right to harvest some eggs and even turtle meat (like in Limon because it’s such a part of their culture, but it’s a certain amount and during a certain period), but I don’t know of this right existing in Guanacaste–the people at MINAE will be able to tell you. All turtles in CR are under threat of extinction so please call MINAE and ask for “Denuncias” so that you can report this and they will send people to check this out. I will also tell my friend in MINAE. Thanks for posting this…
Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE):
Information Office Telephone: (506) 192
Headquarters Telephone: (506) 283-8094Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG):
Apartado Postal 169-5000
Liberia, Guanacaste,Costa Rica
Liberia: (506) 666-0630
Santa Rosa: (506) 666-5051
Pocosol: (506) 661-8150
email: acg@acguanacaste.ac.crYou can also contact http://www.tortugamarina.org they work to help save the marine turtles in CR. Best of luck…Pura Vida…
Aaronbz, so well said and every mother who’s lost a child (either by death or political separation) to war knows this! Sprite, if you think that you saw the “truth” when you were in Cuba 30 years ago, then you don’t really know how a communist government works. You saw what they wanted you to see. Even just a few years ago the “neighborhood watch person” came to check my Tica friend and I out when I went to visit my family. This wasn’t out of hospitality, but to make sure the “capitalist pigs” weren’t corrupting anyone. Her words, not mine. To her surprise she found herself with people that didn’t fit the propaganda schema she had expected and actually congratulated my aunt & uncle for having a socialist minded niece. You can bet your very life, that I would not have said ONE single word that would have put my family’s life at stake, and I never misrepresented my views, just abstained from topics that would put my family in jeopardy. I sure don’t see that my cell phone calls, emails or if I have friends abroad are any business of this administration and what makes this any different in Cuba where I can’t even visit my family in peace without a government appointed watchdog has to give me the “okay” or problems with work and rations can ensue? My cousin had a good job when her husband decided to try to make it to the US and left on a raft. When he established himself in the US, she wanted to join her husband, we tried to help her unify her family (two kids were part of this mix) and just for applying for an exit visa she lost her job and her ration card for her and her children!! She would have starved without the rest of the family providing some assistance–GRAND IDEALOGY AT WORK DON’T YOU THINK! UpeCity’s relatives and my father, my aunt, my uncles, my cousins, my grandparents, my siblings, father’s father, and the list goes on, these are not “anecdotes” they are real people who suffered exactly by those that dreamed one day of freeing Cuba and then enslaved her. Thomas Jefferson knew it in his time and was amazed how people could risk it all to gain freedom from oppression and then once it was achieved they then became the oppressors. It’s about having too much power and thinking that the ends justifies the means. I do not spew American propaganda, many who knew first hand of Che’s cruelties just as today we also have his writings to know what he dared to dream and ponder. You can’t idealize anyone and most certainly beware of idealizing men in power. I know the Miami bunch holds very extremist views which I don’t hold dear, but I really don’t blame them, they were traumatized by a revolution. One that you have never had the displeasure of having to live through in your own country, have your family be torn apart by and still suffer even though it’s been so long. You think this administration is bad? Well,try living it for over 4 decades!! Try living without the right to speak your mind like you do on this Forum and live your life as you see fit for 40+ *@! yrs of your life and have your life, your children’s lives and the even the lives of your grandchildren be affected by one political administration!!! I’m the first to say that Fidel brought many needed reforms to the island. You should never blind yourself to the good, even when the good is done by people you don’t agree with, and for heaven’s sake you should also never blind yourself to the harm done to others–even when that has not touched your life of the lives of your personal loved ones….The intellectual arrogance of sideline communist sympathizers has very little room for compassion for those real people that actually suffered because to them the ideology written in books and in the illusions they’ve been presented is worth more than the people it was meant to serve. I think the US was blessed to have Founding Fathers that started founding documents with “We the people…” and presidents that reminded themselves and others that gov’t was supposed to be ” “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Do you know why Jefferson thought everyone should at some point be a soldier as much as he didn’t care for war? Exactly for that very reason, because sometimes only when you experience the horror of this experience do you fully understand the profound attack it presents to human dignity on all sides. I always think that if presidents had to actually go to war and actually fight among each other, they would choose this option a hell of a lot less easily, but it’s always easier to expend with the lives and dignity of others….
Alfred, I don’t think any less of you because you admire great philosophies and achievements, even when they come from monsters such as Che–I recognize them also. We all have great capacity for kindness and great capacity to inflict pain on others–it’s typically a choice for each of us and context plays a huge role too–unless you’ve turned into a sociopath, then there is no choice. That which constructs our personal shadows is grotesquely fed by great power over others. It enables our flaws to become the pain and the cry of many. Che is personal with me because if it would have been left up to him he would have executed my father for his personal enjoyment and I would not be alive today–my father who was an innocent man and a child that was not yet conceived—you can’t get more personal than that… Frankly, other than Che & Walker’s ruthlessness, arrogance and thirst for waging war or bloody revolutions I don’t see an iota of similarity between them when it comes to much of their thoughts and goals. Mr. Walker never had the slightest of decent intentions in his process and never lost his way (as I believe happened with Che) while waging his aggressions, his path was clearly one for self gain and domination from the very beginning…
To Alfred and Sprite, I respect both of you and like you say, most of us appreciate hearing differing points of view so I will reiterate mine. Even though many of Che’s goals were truly admirable, “the ends (no matter how noble) can never justify the means”…Isn’t that what we have been discussing all along on this Forum? I can think of no better advice from Jefferson than this and I can assure you that Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevarra did not subscribe to this philosophy:
“Never suppose that in any possible situation or under any circumstances that it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing however slightly so it may appear to you. Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises, being assured that they will gain strength by exercise…and that exercise will make them habitual.” Thomas Jefferson
I’m glad that many great things were accomplished in many places because people dared to dream and had the courage to act, but I also believe it detracts from them when it’s done on the backs of others and with great joy in the cruelty inflicted on fellow human beings….Your humble Cuban Friend, Rebeca…
Hey Roark, there’s something we may yet have in common (if you’ve ever read anything I’ve ever written about Che you would know this). I thought Che was ruthless and arrogant leader and that can never be the character of a true statesman. Unfortunately, Che was not the only political leader that suffers from these character flaws–even when they’re not as charismatic as Che has been considered! Interesting you compare Walker to him since Walker had the US President’s approval to engage in his military endeavors. But I’m still left wondering why someone who seems so focused on immediate, indiscriminate and crushing military use should love a country that so proudly boasts of a political philosophy that is exactly the opposite of this? I still don’t know. I don’t like to suppose or make attributions about people I’m not familiar with, I find that counterproductive, which is why I ask. BTW, my name is Rebeca, but friends on the Forum have been known to modify my name from time to time and as long as it’s not made into a derogatory form, I don’t get upset–it actually makes me smile sometimes…I know that CR brings me great peace from all of the violence around the world, who knows, maybe that’s why you find CR attractive–like I said, I can’t tell, but I hope you remember their love for peace when you visit or interact with the people of CR, they deserve our respect for their political ideology and the way they behave and expect others to behave while in their country…
